Local News

TCAP scores exceed expectations

WHS students will face new rules

One hundred percent of Wiggins High School seniors graduated this year, and Wiggins third graders did well on their state reading tests.

That good news was given out at this week's meeting of the Wiggins Board of Education.

The board also heard about some changes to the WHS and Wiggins Middle School handbook.

TCAP

Transitional Colorado Assessment Program scores showed that 79 percent of Wiggins third grad-ers scored as proficient or advanced in reading, above the 72 percent average for the state.

That was good news for the third grade teachers, since this class started out the year at a lower reading level, said Wiggins Elementary School Principal Tara Boyer.

At the beginning of the year, the third grade student took the annual NWEA tests, and part of that test is a predictor that showed that perhaps only 57 percent of the class might reach proficient or advanced levels, so the final result was far better than expected, Boyer said.

"They did a fabulous job," she said.

These scores show important growth since the beginning of the year, said Superintendent Gary Bruntz.

The NWEA predictor has good reliability, so it was great that the kids did so well, he said.

While the Wiggins third graders did not have as large a percentage of advanced students as the state, they outdid the state in proficient readers, Bruntz noted.

This continues a trend of Wiggins scoring higher than the state average, he said.

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Of course, different classes do differently on the tests, and the scores go up and down over the years, but in the last five years Wiggins third grade students have been near or exceeded 80 per-cent proficient or advanced in reading. The state is usually about 10 percentage points lower, Bruntz explained.

Hispanic students did not score as high as they sometimes have, with 54 percent proficient or advanced in reading. That gap has fluctuated over the years, he said. Sometimes there is hardly any gap between Hispanic and white students.

Part of the problem is that some of the Hispanics are still learning English, which makes it harder for them to score well, Bruntz said.

WHS

WHS and WMS principal Trent Kerr said that this was the second year in a row that all seniors have graduated, which is a good sign.

However, some things will change next year.

A greater effort will be made to get struggling students into tutoring, Kerr said. Even though it has been available, many have not taken advantage of the program.

If a student had a grade below a "C," his or her eligibility for afterschool programs will be assessed - including for sports, he said.

Each Monday, he will go over each student's performance to determine eligibility. He will be giving parents calls to encourage them to have their kids in tutoring, Kerr said.

Also, if a student misses a test, he or she will not be able to participate in extracurricular activities, he said.

The coaches have said they support the idea, Kerr said.

The idea is to make this a partnership with parents, not an adversarial situation, Bruntz said.

The new WHS and WMS handbook says that "inappropriate displays of affection" are banned. There have been times when teens are kissing in the school or doing other things that are not appropriate for the setting, Kerr said.

"We've just had kids going overboard," he said.

Also, the new dress code reaffirms that students should not have undergarments visible, Kerr said. Some have worn ripped jeans, showing their underwear.